Edible Ball Bearings, Champagne, and Really Old Time Lords
by Doctor Ellie
Summary: After Pompeii, Donna decides that a birthday party is just what the Doctor ordered... Even if he doesn't know it yet!


Donna Noble had always been very enthusiastic about celebrating birthdays. She loved a good party- especially a good party where she was the one being celebrated- and birthdays were among the most marvelous reasons she had found to celebrate. Birthdays involved gifts and cake (oh, god, the cake!) and being the center of attention.

Donna was also of the opinion that there was nothing like a good party to cheer someone up. As such, she spent a long time thinking hard of excuses to throw a party (even if it was a tiny party with very few attendants) to cheer up the Doctor after their experience with Pompeii. She knew deep down that he would probably always harbor a significant amount of guilt over what had happened, but she felt it was her duty as his friend to try to get him over this significant hump.

Residing in a time ship had certain perks, luckily. Donna could engineer a party anywhere, on any day, for any occasion. The options were endless… A holiday party? No, that only reminded her of killer Christmas ornaments, giant spider people, and good-for-nothing fiancées. A pool party? Well, she and the Doctor sometimes lounged around the pool, but she couldn't figure out how she would class that up into a party without making the Doctor suspicious. A dance party? While the thought of the Doctor dancing struck her as hilarious, Donna didn't think she could get him to loosen up enough to actually dance, which would make the whole thing pointless.

After an hour or so of deliberating, making lists, and crossing things off, Donna had a brilliant revelation. She could throw a _birthday _party! At the thought, she laughed out loud and jumped up from her seat in the console room where she'd been sitting in companionable silence while the Doctor tinkered.

He raised an eyebrow at her as she turned to rush from the room. "Oh, spaceman, have I got a surprise for you!"

His inquisitive eyebrow immediately dropped into a more formidable expression. "Donna…" he said, deeply suspicious.

Donna was a little stung that he was so quick to suspect her of- what exactly? "Oi," she snapped. "It's a happy surprise. Be happy, you dolt."

With that, she gave up on him and fled the room. She had things to do and no grumpy alien was going to stand in her way.

* * *

A few hours later, she was ready to go. She hadn't been sure of where to host the party, but the TARDIS had been more than up to the task. Donna found a room clearly set up to house a small party… It was exactly what she'd had in mind. The room wasn't very large and resembled a cozy living room. There were a few loveseats on the edges of the room and the TARDIS had supplied a very adequate supply of confetti, which Donna wasted no time in scattering about. In one corner, there was an impressive stereo system with a collection of CDs. Donna chose a Janis Joplin album, which she did not relish but knew the Doctor loved.

From the craft room, Donna had fashioned a banner that read HAPPY ? BIRTHDAY, DOCTOR! While making the banner, Donna had tried her hardest to remember the Doctor's age, but she eventually realized that she had no clue. It wasn't something she'd ever thought about before, and it occurred to her (much to her dismay and guilt) that she'd never even asked. Some friend she was!

After making and hanging up the banner, Donna went to the galley and (using the cookbook that the TARDIS oh-so-helpfully laid out for her) managed to fashion a semi-decent cake. She decorated it to match the TARDIS. Most of the icing was dark blue and she used white icing to spell out HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARTIAN! across the top. She added a sprinkling of tiny silver balls to the top that she'd found near the baking supplies. She wasn't sure why, but she thought the Doctor would love them.

She brought the cake back to her party room, centered it on a small table by the door, and turned on the stereo system. She surveyed her handiwork, declared the room perfect, and went to fetch the Doctor.

She found him exactly where she'd left him, seated on the grating just under the edge of the console.

"Doctor!" she sing-songed, planting herself beside him. "Are you ready for your surprise?"

"What is it?" he asked her, setting down his tools. He did not, Donna thought critically, look nearly as excited as she thought he should.

"It's a surprise," she said slowly. Honestly, the man was as daft as they came. "The whole point of a surprise is that you don't know about it beforehand. Thought you'd know that, Spaceman."

The Doctor shook his head, seeming resigned. He stood up and offered her a hand, helping her up, too.

Donna walked down the hall a few feet then stopped short, turning around. "This is as far as you go," she informed him.

He looked thoroughly unimpressed. "This is my surprise? A hallway on my own ship? Really, Donna, I have things to do." He started to turn back toward the console room, but Donna grabbed his hand.

"Oh, no, you don't!" She put her hands on his shoulders. "Doctor, you're going to do as you're told and play along. Now, put this on." She pulled an opaque handkerchief out of her sleeve.

"On my-"

"Over your eyes, Doctor. Like a blindfold."

He stared at her for a moment, clearly questioning her sanity. A second or two passed, however, and he seemed to recognize a stronger willpower than his own and relinquished under her unfaltering gaze. He tied the handkerchief behind his head and put his hands up in the air. "I'm trusting you here, Donna Noble."

Grinning in triumph, Donna maneuvered herself behind the Doctor and manhandled him into walking down the hall.

Before too long, the Doctor and Donna had made it nearly to the party room. Donna positioned the Doctor directly in front of the open door (feeling proud of herself for only making him trip twice, and he didn't fall either time.) "Alright," she said, eagerly anticipating his reaction. "Take it off."

The Doctor did as he was told and removed the blindfold. He stared in disbelief at the room, fully set up for a mini-party. Janis Joplin crooned in the background. "What?" he said after a moment, unable to comprehend what he was seeing.

Donna couldn't contain herself any longer. "Happy birthday, Doctor!" she announced, wriggling with excitement. She threw her arms around him and after a heartbeat pulled back, grabbing his hand and leading him into the room.

"But-" he protested, still struggling. "But Donna, it's not my birthday!"

Donna was very used to feeling unintelligent and she was certainly used to feeling so around the Doctor, so it was nice to be the clever one, for once. "We live on a _time ship_," she informed him smugly. "It's your birthday whenever you want it to be."

The Doctor conceded to her point and she finally got the reaction she'd been after: he went from wearing a vague frown to smiling widely, laughing in a slightly disbelieving manner. "Donna Noble, you are brilliant." He grabbed her and swung her around.

There were still shadows in his eyes, but Donna would take this mostly-happy Doctor over the sad, brooding Doctor she'd had for the last few days. "Of course I am, you idiot," she said, cuffing his arm affectionately. "Now," she continued, straightening up. "I made cake!"

She led him over to the cake and he stopped dead. "Edible ball bearings," he said, very quietly.

"Is that what you call these?" Donna asked, wrinkling her nose. She was surprised at his reaction and wondered what was wrong. The word _edible _was included and they'd been in the TARDIS galley, so they couldn't have been terrible!

He nodded slowly, eyes still on the cake. "They're brilliant," he said softly, but it wasn't with his usual enthusiasm.

"Something wrong?" Donna asked him cautiously. This was exactly the type of funk she'd hoped to draw him out of, and here he was, landing himself right back in the middle of another one.

This time he looked at her as he spoke. His expression was still far off, but at least he was talking directly to her. "No. It's only- the last time I encountered edible ball bearings, I was celebrating with Rose." His voice stumbled very slightly over the name.

Donna sighed. It seemed her plan had backfired. "I'm sorry," she told him. "I didn't mean to make you remember painful things."

His eyes softened and he smiled a little. "No, this one's a happy memory, for once. I just miss her."

Donna was somewhat surprised by his words, as the Doctor was not usually prone to bouts of emotional confessions. Not for the first time, she wondered who this long-lost girl had been.

She decided to lighten the mood again. She grabbed a bottle of champagne off the table, poured two flutes, and handed one to the Doctor. "Well, then!" she exclaimed. "Let's toast her! To Rose!" She lifted her glass and he his, and they each sipped. When the Doctor lowered his champagne, his eyes seemed lighter, somehow.

Over Donna's shoulder, he noticed the banner. "Why the question mark?" he inquired.

Donna gave him a look. "It's 'cause I don't know how old you are, Martian."

"I'm not a Martian," he muttered under his breath, but it was just for show. She knew that deep down, he liked the nicknames she gave him. "Why don't you take a guess," he told her, a wicked glint in his eye.

Donna sensed a challenge. Clearly he didn't believe that she could guess his age correctly. She looked at him critically. He was old, she knew. Older than herself, older than he looked. She guessed that he was probably well over a hundred, maybe even over two hundred. She rounded up, to be safe. "Three hundred years old!"

At this, he threw back his head and laughed, and for the first time all day, he seemed to have let Pompeii settle into the back of his mind. "Not even close, earthgirl. Not even close."

Donna glared because he was laughing at her expense, but secretly, she was delighted to see the change in his demeanor. "Well?" she demanded. "If I'm wrong, what's the right answer?"

The Doctor grinned. "I, Donna Noble, am over 900 years old."

Donna had been prepared to tease the Doctor mercilessly, but this derailed her thoughts. "What? _Seriously_?"

"Oh, I've never been more serious," he assured her solemnly.

Donna wouldn't believe it if she didn't know the man, but then, he was always surprising her, wasn't he? "Alright," she said, shaking her head with a laugh. "An old geezer it is. But tell me, are you too old to party, Spaceman?"

With a chuckle at his wounded expression, she walked backward until she reached the stereo, reaching behind her to crank up the volume. She rushed back to him and grabbed his hand, pulling him to the empty center of the room to dance.

She struck a ridiculous pose at a particularly loud beat in the song and then broke into an equally ridiculous dance sequence that earned her another loud laugh from the Doctor. It didn't take him long to join her.

As she and the Doctor danced wildly at their two-person party, Donna thought that maybe, just _maybe_, she and the Doctor would be alright. Happy birthday, indeed.

* * *

**A/N: So, while writing this, I could not for the life of me remember if Donna ever had a conversation with the Doctor about his age. If I am just blanking on a conversation about it that happened in canon, I'm sorry! Also, this ficlet was written for Gallifreyslostson in honor of her Tumblr-versary, or Tumblr birthday. **


End file.
